


Dream

by Bungalow_Stories



Category: Jurassic World - Fandom
Genre: F/M, moo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-12
Updated: 2016-04-12
Packaged: 2018-06-01 21:24:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6536839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bungalow_Stories/pseuds/Bungalow_Stories
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Claire and Owen have a dream.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dream

Owen carried Claire through their bedroom door, placing her delicately on the bed. It was no simple feat to lift her, but the task was made easier by magic. He had the dragons to thank for that. Their spells made it practical for Claire to be treated like a human being, though she was now a stegoceratops. Thankfully, she _finally_ seemed to be content with this fact, and Owen was just as happy. He leapt up on her belly, gave her a hug, and ran his hand down the side of her neck.  
"I'm so glad you decided to wear clothing again . . ."  
She nuzzled his cheek.  
"Why?"  
"Because now I get to undress you."  
He started doing just that, and Claire rested her head on the pillow, giving a happy moo. She curled her tail around Owen's waist, squeezing him playfully.  
"This is heaven."  
"It's better than heaven."  
"So you really don't mind?"  
 _Uh-oh._  
Owen gulped nervously.  
"Don't mind what?"  
"That I'm a dinosaur."  
Owen's heart dropped. He knew it was too good to be true. Claire hadn't recovered: she was just in one of her upswings. It was all a lie.  
"Hey."  
She poked him with her front foot.  
"I'm not trying to be bitter. I'm just asking. It doesn't mean anything. I'm fine."  
"Then why did you bring it up?"  
Claire shrugged.  
"I don't know."  
Owen looked away. She turned his head gently with the back of her foot.  
"Owen, I'm fine. I like myself now. I'm perfectly aware that there are things I can't do, now that I'm a dinosaur, but that's alright, because I can also do new things."  
"Then why did you ask me if I was okay with it?"  
Claire sighed.  
"I don't know. I guess I just like hearing you say that you don't care how I look."  
"But you know I feel that way. You shouldn't have to ask."  
"I know I don't _have_ to. I just like it when you tell me I'm beautiful."  
Claire kissed him repeatedly, but he was distracted now. She broke off with worry.  
"Owen?"  
"Tell me the truth: is something wrong?"  
Claire shook her head fiercely.  
"No, Owen."  
"Are you sure?"  
Claire's head-shaking switched to nodding abruptly.  
"I'm okay. The situation we're in isn't easy, but I'm coping. In any case, there's nothing we can do about it. I'm stuck this way forever."  
Owen twiddled his fingers.  
"Does that mean you're only settling on being happy because you have no choice?"  
"No. Of course not. I mean, it was a lot harder before . . ."  
She took a deep breath.  
"I used to play this game with myself. Whenever I was grazing and I saw a white flower, I'd swallow it right away, hoping that it would be like the one that kept me human. It's stupid, I know, because magical flowers don't just show up out of the blue, but . . . I don't know. I liked to pretend. As time went on, though, I started swallowing white flowers out of obligation. I continued to play the game because . . . I didn't want to admit that I enjoyed being a dinosaur. I mean, if my past self could see the way I'm living now, she'd be horrified, right? But I don't want to be like her. I want to live here with you and Lily. I want to graze for hours and hours and feel good about it. I want to be able to go to work as a dinosaur and not worry about how I look. And I can. When you really get down to it, I'm not exactly the same person I was when I had a human body, but that doesn't mean I'm just an animal. I think and I feel like a person, but I look like a stegoceratops. So I'm not a human and I'm not a dinosaur. I'm something in between. I have to accept the struggles that come with my new life. People can judge me all they want, and it will get to me sometimes, but in general, I'm happy with what I am. That being said, I really, really like it when you tell me I'm beautiful."  
Owen smiled.  
"Then I'll tell you every day."  
She gave a soft rumble and licked his cheek.   
"Thank you."  
"Don't mention it."  
*************C*************  
Claire hadn't been lying, exactly, but she didn't tell Owen the whole truth. While she was perfectly content with being a stegoceratops for the most part, every once in a while, she'd wonder what it would be like to be human again. These thoughts usually faded away when she remember that she had a child to take care of, but at the same time, she didn't deny that she pondered these things more often than was healthy.   
Usually, her mind would wander before she went to sleep, and this was the case tonight. After a very enjoyable tumble, she was ready to doze off, but she steered her thoughts back to what Owen had said. Was he really a hundred percent okay with the way she was? If so, was something wrong with him? He claimed that the reason he loved her was that she was still herself on the inside, but he seemed to be attracted to her on the outside as well, and that part of her was definitely not humanoid. Also, she was pretty sure he had a tail fetish. That was weird. Very weird.  
She fell asleep with these thoughts bouncing around inside her dinosaur skull, and when she awoke in a dreamland, she was still focused on the subject. She didn't know she was dreaming (few do), but if she had been lucid, she would have realized that the situation in which she found herself was rather odd. Essentially, she was watching Owen having a dream of his own, and a rather zesty one, at that. He was entwined with another Claire, one in his mind, and they were dancing in the foggy darkness of a place that did not matter to him. He was too preoccupied with his actions to care about the setting, obviously. Typical Owen.  
The real Claire, the one who was dreaming, was human now (she had made this decision herself), and she had a vague sense that she might be asleep. She was in a bizarre state of not-quite-knowing, but that didn't matter, because she was focused on what Owen was doing. She moved towards him (not by walking, exactly), and waved.  
"Hey."  
His eyes darted to the side, but he ignored her and continued to kiss the stegoceratops-Claire. She batted her eyelashes, then waved a little harder.  
"Hey, Owen!"  
He glanced at her again, briefly, but decided he didn't care that she was present. This made her angry. Very angry. How _dare_ he ignore her? Didn't he know that she was real?  
Claire marched forward and pushed her other self away until the imposter evaporated into a fine, green smoke. Owen grabbed at the air with distress, pining for his lost lover.  
"Claire! Claire!"  
She grabbed his chin and turned his face towards her forcefully, bunching up his cheeks.  
" _I'm_ the real Claire. Focus on _me_."  
After a beat, he smiled.  
"Okay. That makes sense. Come here."  
He touched her arm, but as he did, it became covered in a layer of scales. Claire pulled away in fear.  
"Owen! What are you _doing_?"  
"What does it _look_ like I'm doing?"  
She rubbed the scales away with agitation.  
"Stop it. This is our only chance to do it normally. I can only be human in my mind."  
"Your mind?"  
"I'm dreaming."  
As soon as she realized that she was telling the truth, she felt the real Owen- the one who was sleeping beside her- pressing himself against her leg. She shook the thought to prevent herself from waking up fully.  
"Come on. This is our chance to be normal. Don't you want to be with me as a human?"  
Owen blinked, then shook his head.  
"No, not really."  
" _WHAT_?!"  
Her voice made him tumble backwards in the void. He swam back to her and held her hands.  
"It's not that I don't like you, but it's just not real. Besides, you were always so mean to me when you were human."  
"Not always."  
"No, but you're nicer as a herbivore."  
He kissed her neck, which also began to sprout scales. She stared into the distance with dead eyes.  
"But Owen . . . I mean . . . if you had the choice . . ."  
He lifted her leg.  
"I want you. Not fake-you: real-you."  
"But this _is_ the real me."  
He stopped moving. Claire put her hands on his shoulders.  
"This is what I am. I was born human. This is the real me."  
Owen took a deep breath and let it out. Then, he went back to touching her.  
"No, not anymore. You're not that person anymore . . . not anymore . . ."  
Claire let him touch her, but her heart was aching. Tears began to stream down her cheeks, and they filled the darkness like stars. Some of them began to fall, and when they did, they grew. It wasn't long before she had created a shallow puddle at their feet. And it was getting deeper. Owen felt the water rising and let go of her in shock.  
"Claire!"  
"Am I really gone forever?"  
"No! No, you're not!" he insisted, "You're still here, and you're a stegoceratops!"  
"But that's not who I am!"  
"It is now . . ."  
She hiccupped.  
"I've lost the person I was!"  
The water was at their waists. Owen reached for her hand.  
"It doesn't matter! We don't need that person anymore!"  
The seemingly endless blur of their undefined location was actually small enough to pool her tears into a lake, it seemed. Claire found herself worrying that it would change into a whirlpool, and as soon as she did, that very thing happened. She was dragged in a loop that shrunk with each round. Owen was closer to the center, and therefore in more danger.  
"Claire! It's okay! I love you!"  
She couldn't stop crying. Many times, Owen passed her, but every time their separate spirals met, he was out of reach. Claire could only watch in horror as he approached his doom. The pit in the center of the whirlpool was about to swallow him whole.  
"Claire, I'm sorry! I just want to make you happy! Why don't you believe me when I say I love you?"  
"I _do_ believe you! I just need reminding! Don't go, Owen!"  
"Stop crying!"  
"I can't!"  
She made one last grab for him, but he dipped into the abyss and did not resurface. The water froze, then broke away in jagged fragments of glass. Claire floated among them, weeping softly.  
"Owen . . . Owen . . ."  
"Claire."  
The voice was not coming from her dream. The real Owen was no longer sleeping. He was talking to her. But why? It wasn't like she could answer him directly. Maybe he was trying to calm her down. Claire felt his hand on her snout, and she relaxed slightly.  
"Owen . . ."  
"That's it . . . You'll be okay . . . Shhh . . . Shhh . . ."  
She hoped that she wasn't the reason he had awoken so suddenly. It wouldn't be the first time she had kicked him in her sleep. Maybe she should apologize.  
"Sorry!"   
Although she was shouting in her dream, she could feel her real mouth moving in a restrained murmur. Owen pressed his cheek against her forehead.  
"Sorry for what?"  
"Everything . . ."  
She tried to wake up, but she was stuck in her dream. The glass had disappeared, somehow.  
"Don't apologize, Claire. You've done nothing wrong. Well, you yelled at me for not folding my underwear once, but other than that . . ."  
Claire smiled. As she did, the fog of her dream turned blue.  
"We both have issues, Claire. That's okay. Everyone does. Our problems are just a little different."  
Her dream-tail brushed across grass, and she found that she was floating above a meadow. She let herself drift down to the ground.  
"We're doing okay, you and me. We have a home, a daughter, you just got a new job . . . Everything is fine."  
Claire nodded. She continued to nod as she lowered her head to graze on the imaginary grass, which tasted like candy.  
"No one expects you to forget your past. You don't have to pretend that it never happened- Well, actually you do, for Lily . . ."  
Dark clouds began to swirl in the sky. Claire lifted her head, still chewing the grass.  
". . . Let's not focus on that right now. We can play it by ear. You know, someday, they'll write a book about us. Not a storybook, but a biography kind of thing. All the people who suddenly find themselves changed into dinosaurs will turn to us for guidance, because we did it first, and we did it right. People will look at us and say . . ."  
His voice faded out of her dream after that. She didn't really mind, because she was enjoying the grass. She assumed that he must have given up on talking to her eventually, because she felt him kiss her snout and roll over. Tiny, white flowers blossomed in her meadow, and she smiled.   
It wasn't long before the dream-Owen came back. He stood beside her as she grazed, rubbing her scales slowly with one hand. She leaned towards him without interrupting her activity.  
"Is it good?"  
Claire replied by curling her tail around his ankle. He smiled and scratched the back of her neck.  
"You know, kissing you is different each season. In the summer, when you eat flowers, you taste sweet. In the fall, when you eat leaves, you taste sour. In the winter, when you eat bark, you taste bitter. In the spring, when you eat buds, you taste spicy. I like that. You're always changing, but you're still the same in some ways. It's nice. I love you."  
Her mouth was full, but she smiled at him with her eyes. She sat down, satisfied with her grazing, and began to chew cud. Owen sat down too, leaning against her, and tore up a clump of grass. He nibbled on it.  
"Hm. Not bad. Something tells me this would taste terrible in real life."  
Claire swallowed her cud.  
"Real life?"  
"Yeah. I'm asleep. I'm dreaming."  
Claire cocked her head.  
"No, _I'm_ dreaming."  
"I hope so. You seemed calm when I fell asleep."  
Claire batted her eyes.  
"Owen . . . Are we having the same dream?"  
"I don't know. I probably won't remember it when I wake up."  
She smiled.  
"That's okay. We're here now, and that's what matters."


End file.
